Ricardo Lara Becomes 1st LGBT Individual Elected Statewide In California

Ricardo Lara has been declared the winner of the California Insurance Commissioner race, defeating former Republican (and current Independent) Steve Poizner. Lara is an openly LGBT state Senator and as of today he leads Poizner 52%-48% (or 400,000 votes) with nearly 10 million votes tabulated:

Lara becomes the first openly LGBT individual elected statewide in California!

Hat tip to Equality California.

QUEER QUOTE: California Enacts Law To Provide Nonbinary Gender Option In Official Documents

Wow! The state of California completed its 2017 legislative session recently and there are some fascinating new laws on the books thanks to Democratic supermajorities in both Houses and a Democratic governor in Jerry Brown.

One of the important bills Governor Brown signed into law was SB179, the Gender Recognition Act, which provides the option of "nonbinary" on official identity documents issued by the state of California which ask about the gender or sex of an individual.

USA Today reports:

The state of California will now legally recognize non-binary as a third gender on official state identification documents.  

Gov. Jerry Brown signed SB179 on Sunday night. The bill, dubbed the Gender Recognition Act, will allow a third gender choice on driver's licenses, state identification cards, and make it easier for people to change their gender and name on state identification papers.  

Non-binary, is a catch-all term for people who do not identify as exclusively male or female, and has been slowly acknowledged by some states as a gender option. 

In June, the District of Columbia followed Oregon's lead and began offering the gender-neutral choice of "X" on driver licenses and identification cards, and similar legislation is currently pending in New York.

The bill was authored by Senators Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and Toni Atkins (D-San Diego),  who are two of the many openly LGBT members of the Legislature. Equality California (an organization MadProfessah used to be a Board Member of) issued a statement on the occasion of the enactment of the bill into law.

Today's Queer Quote is an excerpt from this press release:

SB 179 makes it easier for transgender, intersex and non-binary people to get official identification documents that accurately reflect their gender identity. In addition to recognizing a nonbinary gender, this bill streamlines the process to change the gender marker or name on state-issued identification documents. Previously, individuals faced difficult and burdensome obstacles to change their identification documents, such as requirements that a person obtain a physician’s verification or that they appear in court, which ultimately made the process intimidating and added expenses that an individual might not have. 

“Gov. Brown’s signature today has put California at the forefront of ensuring the dignity and safety of its transgender, non-binary and gender-non-conforming residents,” said Rick Zbur, executive director of Equality California. “When your ID doesn’t match your gender identity or expression, it can expose you to potentially dangerous situations. SB 179 eliminates unnecessary obstacles from the process of getting state-issued identification documents for thousands of Californians.” 

“With this simple change, California has made daily life infinitely safer and easier for many gender nonbinary and transgender people,” said Kris Hayashi, executive director of Transgender Law Center. “We’re asked for identification everywhere from banks to bars to airports, and it can be devastating and even dangerous for nonbinary and transgender people to navigate life with an I.D. that doesn’t reflect who they truly are.” 

According to a 2015 national survey of 25,000 transgender people, only 11 percent reported that all their identification documents had their name and gender that is consistent with their gender identity, and one-third of respondents who showed an ID with a gender marker that did not match their appearance reported being verbally harassed, denied services or assaulted.

 Congratulations to California!

POLL: 12% Of California Voters Are #LGBT

Equality California has released a poll which shows that 12% of California voters identify as LGBT. Interestingly, this number varied only slightly by geographical region in the state, from 10% in the Los Angeles area (11% in Los Angeles county) to 14% in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The poll discusses the margin of error:

The survey’s margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level. This means that 95 times out of 100, if a response to a given question to which all respondents answered was 50%, we could be 95% confident that the true percentage would fall within +/-4% of this percentage - or between 46% and 54%. As 12% of respondents in this survey answered “yes” when asked if they were a member of the LGBT community, we can infer that the sampling error specific to that response is +/- 2.4% or between 9.6% and 14.4%.

The poll's methodology of asking the question "Are you a member of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community, also known as the LGBT community?" online may be an explanation for why they received such larger values than the more typical 2-4% number  that we have been more used to.

VIDEO: EQCA Encourages LGBT Community To Vote In June 7 California Primary

It's exactly two weeks until California's 2016 Statewide Primary Election on June 7th. Equality California, the state's largest LGBT political advocacy organization, is urging the LGBT community to vote, and will be running PSA on television in important markets like Los Angeles, San Diego and Palm Springs.

Equality California's 2014 List Of LGBT-Supportive Legislation

Equality California has a list of legislation that it has been able to get passed by the California Legislature in 2014.

Modernize birth certificates: AB 1951, authored by Assemblymember Jimmy Gomez, modernizes California birth certificates by allowing parents to choose to self-designate as “father,” “mother” or “parent,” eliminating inaccurate designations and confusion for same-sex parents.
Provide LGBT cultural competency for health care providers: AB 496, authored by Assemblymember Rich Gordon, clarifies that existing cultural competency training for health care providers should include discussion of LGBT issues.
End the “panic” defense: AB 2501, Assemblymember Susan Bonilla, eliminates the so-called “gay panic” and “trans panic” defenses, outrageous tactics used by defendants who claim their violent acts were triggered by the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
Encourage Respect After Death: AB 1577, the Respect After Death Act, authored by Speaker of the Assembly Toni Atkins and cosponsored by the Transgender Law Center, would make sure death certificates for transgender Californians accurately reflect their authentic, lived identity.
End discrimination in blood donor procedures: AJR 50, authored by Assemblymember Richard Bloom, urges the President to be an agent of change so that FDA blood donation eligibility policies will be based on modern scientific research and findings rather than archaic assumptions and fears.

This is a pretty good list!

California Legislature Passes Bill Enshrining Marriage Equality Into Statute

California Legislature Passes Bill Enshrining the Freedom to Marry in State Statutes

(Sacramento) Senate Bill 1306, authored by Senator Mark Leno and co-sponsored by Attorney General Kamala D. Harris, Equality California and the National Center for Lesbian Rights, passed the Assembly on June 30 by a bipartisan vote of 54-16. The bill will bring California statutory law into line with the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 decision restoring the freedom to marry in California.

While both the California and U.S. Supreme Courts have affirmed the right for same-sex couples to marry, current state laws in many cases do not reflect that change. SB 1306 would ensure that references to “husband” and “wife” would be replaced with gender-neutral language such as “spouse” to recognize all married couples throughout the California code.

“In historic fashion one year ago, the U.S. Supreme Court restored the right of every loving couple to marry in California,” said Senator Leno, D-San Francisco. “Today we are sending a bill to the Governor’s desk ensuring that this landmark decision is clearly reflected in our state laws.”

"While we have achieved many milestones in the journey towards full equality for LGBT people – including the freedom to marry for same-sex couples – it's important that we completely erase discrimination from the books," said Rick Zbur, executive director-elect of EQCA. "This important bill does just that, ensuring that California statutes fully reflect and respect the freedom to marry for same-sex couples. We applaud Senator Leno for authoring this important legislation and are proud to be a sponsor of it."

“We are grateful for Senator Leno’s legislation that will ensure the fair and equal treatment of all married couples in California,” said National Center for Lesbian Rights Executive Director Kate Kendell. “Although there is no question that same-sex couples can marry in California, the discriminatory language that remains on the statutory books creates confusion about the rights of same-sex couples. This bill makes it clear to everyone that same-sex couples can marry and that all spouses have the exact same rights and responsibilities under the law, regardless of gender.”

The bill now moves to Gov. Brown’s desk.

Homophobes File Referendum on Transgender Student Rights Bill

Here we go again. Just last week Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 1266, the School Success and Opportunity Act, into law. SSOA basically put into effect statewide the policy of the state's largest school district, LAUSD, which allows transgender students to participate fully in activities using the gender identity that they feel is most appropriate. Massachusetts and Colorado already have similar statewide policies.

Most people think this was a historic move forward to advance the rights of transgender students. Of course, that is not how the homophobes see it. They have filed paperwork to put theis historic civil rights law up for a referendum, meaning that it would not go into effect immediately if they are able to file 500,000 signatures with the Secretary of State within 90 days. Then there would be a vote during a statewide election in 2014 on whether the measure would go into effect at all or be effectively repealed.

Equality California executive director John O'Connor responded to the move:

"This is a predictable move by fringe groups that oppose all pro-equality measures and that historically have lacked the capacity to successfully execute similar efforts. AB1266 is an historic civil rights bill ensuring all students have the opportunity to participate and succeed in schools, including transgender students. EQCA and our partners will remain vigilant about monitoring the situation."

It should be remembered that there were also people who wanted to put the FAIR Education Act up for  a vote of the people of California, and they failed (twice!) to do so. The FAIR Education Act was a law that amended the state Education Code to insure that information about LGBT people in all California public schools has to be "fair, accurate, inclusive and respectful."

Now it looks like the homophobes are starting to realize that they are most certainly going to lose the war over marriage equality (California's fight over Proposition 8 ended with a whimper on Wednesday August 14) they are changing their focus to the T in LGBT rights, narrowing in on challenging the very concept of gender identity itself.

This is the hyperbolic language they are using on their temporary website to publicize their attempt to overturn the Transgender Student Rghts Bill:

Governor Jerry Brown just signed into law AB 1266 which would allow boys and girls to share the same school locker rooms, showers, restrooms, sporting programs, and school activities, based on the student’s gender identity, rather than his or her actual biological gender. 

Gender identity refers to a person’s subjective opinion of ones gender, which may or may not correspond to the person’s biological sex. But no matter the student’s gender identity, imposing this drastic and intrusive law upon all students is foolish and irresponsible. 

This bill will go into effect in Jan. 2014 unless we stop it.

One of the main reason that the heterosexual supremacists are going after AB 1266 is that the polling on it is pretty tight, with a June 2013 survey indicating 43% support and 46% opposition to the then pending legislation.

Hopefully they won't even get enough signatures to qualify the referendum, but this is probably also about activating the conservative base in California for the 2014 statewide elections, since currently the Republican party has basically zero power in all three branches of California government.

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God

POLL: Support for Marriage in California At 55%

A new poll commissioned by Equality California from David Binder Research indicates that support for marriage equality in California is a majority position, with the number of people who strongly support equal civil marriage rights for same-sex couples outnumbering opponents for the first time, 42% to 31%. Overall, 55% of California voters respond positively (support marriage equality) while 37% respond unfavorable (oppose marriage equality) to the query: "Do you strongly favor, somewhat favor, somewhat oppose or strongly oppose allowing same sex couples to be legally married?” This number is lower than the 61% support for marriage equality found by the Field Poll about 3 months ago prior to the Supreme Court oral arguments in the Hollingsworth v Perry case which will determine the federal constitutionality of California's Proposition 8.

Some key findings from the DBR polling memo on marriage are:

• Over the past four years, support for same sex marriage increased by 8, from 47% to 55%. At the same time, opposition dropped by 12, from 49% to 37%. This resulted in an increase in net support of +20.
  
• 
  Gains in support are greatest among Republicans (+12), middle aged voters (+13 for 30 to 44 year olds and +17 for 45 to 64 year olds), African Americans (+14), and those who know a gay or lesbian personally (+10). 
  
  Those who know gays or lesbians are significantly more likely to support same sex marriage. Those who know a gay or lesbian person are 62% supportive and only 32% opposed. Those that do not know anyone who is gay or lesbian are 36% supportive and 53% opposed. 
  

It will be interesting to see how this new data influences the discussion after the Supreme Court ruling comes out in the next 3-4 weeks.

EQCA's New Executive Director is John O'Connor

Equality California board chairs Clarissa Filgioun and Cary Davidson sent out a press release today announcing that the state's largest LGBT political advocacy organization has named John O'Connor as its new Executive Director, more than a year after my friend Roland Palencia announced he was resigning as the previous head of EQCA. (Disclaimer: From 2002 to 2006 I served on the board of directors of Equality California and Equality California Institute.) It is good news to see that one of the most important organizations in the country regarding LGBT equality is no longer going to be leaderless. Some people might question my characterization of EQCA in that way, but by definition the largest LGBT political advocacy group in the largest state in the country will (and some would argue should, or must) have a national profile.

From the press release:

"I am honored to lead Equality California forward as the statewide voice on LGBT equality. The message will be that we are for full equality and nothing less," said O’Connor, who currently serves as the executive director of the LGBT Community Center of the Desert. “That means enacting, implementing and enforcing legislation that expands the protections and freedoms afforded to LGBT Californians, supporting and electing pro-LGBT legislators, and winning the hearts and minds of Californians through effective education. I won’t just be speaking — I’ll be listening too, to our coalition partners, to the needs of LGBT Californians, and to everyone involved in building a state of equality.”

O’Connor has extensive experience leading non-profits through transition and into solvency and stability. Most recently, through his work at the LGBT Community Center of the Desert, he brought in new staff, established a new counseling center — which was fully staffed and operational within a year — and forged important partnerships with area schools in order to bring anti-bullying and suicide prevention workshops into every 9th grade and first year continuation class. From 2006 through 2010, O’Connor worked directly under former California First Lady Maria Shriver to establish the California Hall of Fame at the California Museum, and he played a key role in stabilizing the museum and leading fundraising and program development that brought the organization statewide visibility and acclaim.

O’Connor brings important national and foundation experience to his new role. From 2002 to 2004, O’Connor was national director of the Gill Foundation, a $220 million foundation dedicated to advancing LGBT equality. He also served as program director of The David Geffen Foundation, where he worked closely with charities and issues of importance to the LGBT community.

“On behalf of the boards of directors, we are very pleased to welcome John aboard, knowing that his background and experience will be valuable as we chart our future,” said Clarissa Filgioun and Cary Davidson, board presidents of EQCA and EQCA Institute respectively. “John is a bold leader with a history of leading nonprofits into the next phase of their journeys. He will enable EQCA and EQCA Institute to broaden our work and move forward on our path to achieve LGBT equality in California.”

O’Connor was selected by the Boards of Directors of Equality California and Equality California Institute after an extensive, national search conducted by executive search firm Morris & Berger.

Check out Karen Ocamb's LGBT POV for more information on this story.

PPIC Poll Says 56% Of CA Likely Voters Support Marriage Equality

Wow! The good polling news on marriage equality just keeps on coming. As this is a presidential election year, it is not surprising that there is a lot of polling going on, and I suspect more and more polls will be including the marriage equality question. Just last week we heard from the Field Poll that 59% of Californians support marriage equality (compared to just 34% who do not), the largest lead (25 points) and highest level of support for same-sex marriage ever recorded in the state by the most trusted name in California polling.

The latest poll is from PPIC and says that 52% of registered voters support allowing same-sex marriage, compared to 41% who don't a margin of +11 for the supporters of equality, which is identical to what the PPIC poll showed last September. Of course the grain of salt here is that the margin of error of the PPIC poll is ±3.8 points, so technically we can not be sure that a majority of registered voters in California support marriage equality. We can however be sure that there are more supporters of marriage equality than people who oppose it.

PPIC also attempts to sample "likely voters," and among this group support for marriage equality is even higher, at 56% with a mere 38%expressing opposition. This is a margin of +18 for the forces for equality. The margin of error on this statistic is ±4.2 points, so this time, according to PPIC, a majority of Californians likely to vote in the June 2012 primary support marriage equality (see figure, below).

Equality California immediately sent out a statement about the new poll which included the graphic at the top of this post highlighting the improvement in the "likely voter" statistic on the question of marriage in the last 3 years.

This was a somewhat curious move, since no one in California is going to be voting on the question of marriage equality anytime soon, since there is no organized effort to put a Proposition 8 repeal measure on the November 2012 ballot due to the fact that the Perry v Brown litigation about the constitutionality of California's same-sex marriage ban is still tied up in the federal courts and is unlikely to be resolved before June 2013 (at the earliest!)

All that being said, two polls within two weeks indicating near-majority support for marriage equality and at the very least significant, double-digit leads for the pro-equality forces are very encouraging and good news!

Analysis of Field Poll Showing 59% Support Marriage Equality

The latest Field Poll is out and it has some encouraging news for supporters of marriage equality in California. By a margin of 25 points, 59% to 34%, California registered voters support "same-sex marriage," a jump of 7  points in support from the last Field poll taken in July 2010 which had the margin at a mere 9 points, 51% to 42%. The margin of error of these polls is ±4.5 percentage points.

Although this is very good news that the most respected polling outfit in California is showing support for marriage equality well above the majority position, it should be noted that 1) Field has a history of overstating supporting for the pro-equality side and 2) this is a poll of registered voters, which means it is essentially meaningless in predicting the outcome of a voter initiative on the measure.

First I will elaborate on my first point (Field has overestimated marriage equality support in the past). In 2008, during the fight to defeat Proposition 8 and defend California marriage equality from June 15 to November 4 (173 days) the Field poll issued 3 polls, all of which had the NO side ahead, often by significant margins. On September 19, 2008 Field said Proposition 8 was losing 55% No, 38% Yes among likely voters, On August 29, 2008 the Field Poll said Proposition 8 was losing 54% No to 40% Yes among likely voters and on its first poll on the issue on July 19, 2008 Field said that Proposition 8 was losing 51% No to 42% among likely voters. According to David Flesicher's exhaustive (and definitive) analysis of the campaign published in The Prop 8 Report, the internal polls of the No On 8 campaign NEVER had the No side above 48% of support, although their daily tracking polling did sometimes have the No side slightly ahead of the Yes side when the Undecided number would get larger. Once the "Princes" ad ran on California television for 10 days without a response Proposition 8 was ahead outside the margin of error. Field has never explained why their polling was so off on the Proposition 8 question, which ultimately passed by a margin of Yes 52.3%, No 47.7%.

My second point is to note that this is a poll of registered voters, not likely voters. It is true that it does not make sense to even speak about likely voters at this point, more than 8 months before the general election, but I want to clarify that there is always a difference between polling the set of all possible voters, and the results created when the subset of voters who actually go to the polls (or return their absentee ballots) and vote. However, the fact that we finally have one data point where majority support for marriage equality has been reached OUTSIDE the margin of error, bring us closer to the pre-conditions for when I would support an attempt to place a ballot measure to repeal Proposition 8.

I repeat those conditions here, for completeness:

1. multiple polls separated in time of weeks or months indicating clear majority support for marriage equality among registered voters;
2. at least one million dollars in the bank to begin a campaign; and 
3. a clearly delineated, consensus-driven model of a campaign structure that is responsive to and supported by all (or nearly all) the various segments of the California LGBT  and progressive activist communities.

I would also note that the two putative (and abortive) attempts by Love Honor Cherish to repeal Proposition 8 (in 2009 and in 2011) by ballot measure did not meet ANY of these above three conditions. In fact, only one of these conditions has ever been met (Condition 2), briefly by Equality California. I suspect that by November 2012 Condition 1 will have been met.

Then again, it is not clear that a campaign to repeal Proposition 8 is necessary, thanks to the federal court case of Perry v Brown, which has declared that measure as violative of the United States Constitution and has been struck down by the two courts which have examined it, on August 4, 2010 and on February 7, 2012. Proposition 8 is currently only in effect due to a stay issued by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on August 16, 2010 as the heterosexual supremacists who are defending it ask for an 11-member en banc panel of that court to consider their appeal, and after that they can also appeal to the United States Supreme Court.

More comment about the new Field poll. They also ask the question about what kind of legal recognition should same-sex couples have and here the response is that now 51% support marriage equality, with another 29% supporting civil unions (or comprehensive domestic partnerships, which is what California law is right now) and a mere 15% support no legal recognition for same-sex couples (See Table 3, below). Note, this 51% is not a majority position when the margin of error is considered. It's curious what the difference is between the 59% who support "allowing same- sex couples to marry and having regular marriage laws apply to them" and the 51% who think that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry  (when given the option of civil unions and no recognition whatsoever).

This is all great news for supporters of marriage equality and just more evidence that the heterosexual supremacists are fighting a battle that they will lose; it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when.

An interesting poll would to also ask specifically about a Proposition 8 re-do which Field last asked in March 2009 and the results were 48% Support Repeal, 47% Support Prop 8. But this was before even the California Supreme Court had upheld Prop 8 and two federal courts had struck it down. I wonder what the Proposition 8 re-do poll numbers are now? Inquiring minds want to know.

Now There Are 8 Out LGBT CA Legislators!

Assemblywoman Cathleen Gagliani (D)

Well, well! This is big news: California has regained it's #1 position as having the largest openly LGBT legislative caucus in  the country with the surprising announcement by Democratic Assemblymember Cathleen Galgiani that she is a lesbian.

Galgiani represents the 17th Assembly District in California, which is in a conservative Central Valley section of the state.

Her local newspaper, The Record has the scoop:

Assemblywoman Cathleen Galgiani is gay, she said Tuesday during an interview at The Record.

Galgiani, D-Livingston, said that by coming out now, she hopes to send a positive message to young people who are struggling to come to terms with their sexual identity

"It sickens me that young people would think about taking their lives because of who they are," Galgiani said. Galgiani, 47, said it was not until well into adulthood, after she was elected to represent the 17th Assembly District in 2006, that she knew she was gay.

This story will be pretty big in the next few days. California now has 8 openly LGBT legislators, the most of any state. It is fascinating that Galgiani would come out now, when she is running in a very competitive primary next year to join the State Senate, since she is now termed out of the Assembly.

Gov. Brown Signs Two Bills Outlining Transgender Protections

The legislative session in California has come to a close and Governor Brown is busy signing or vetoing bills that made it through the Democratically controlled legislature.

Two bills that are of great interest to the LGBT community are Assembly Bill 433 and Assembly Bill 887.

The Transgender Law Center trumpeted the enactment of the bills into law (and explained what they do):

These laws have been years in the making.  Through our statewide survey of almost 650 transgender Californians, the 1,200 calls that our legal team receives annually and our conversations with you at events around the state, we discovered two problems that continued to resurface: We found that California's nondiscrimination laws were often not accessible to those who needed them the most. Employers, health care providers, housing authorities - even transgender and gender non-conforming people - were unaware that it is illegal to discriminate against transgender Californians. Our legal rights were hidden within the definition of "gender", leaving many people in the dark about their rights, and many institutions out of compliance responsibilities. This had an especially severe impact on low-income and trans communities of color who tend to face employment discrimination at higher frequencies within transgender communities.   We heard from many transgender people who were unable to change their birth certificates and other identity documents due to financial and medical barriers. Onerous and outdated standards for court-ordered gender changes created unfair and damaging barriers that disproportionately impacted trans people of color, immigrant trans people, low-income trans people and others who could not overcome the many hurdles to securing basic identity documents. These are identity documents we all need to work, travel, and be our authentic selves. With the help of your input and our partners at Equality California and GSA Network, we came up with two legislative solutions to these problems. The Gender Nondiscrimination Act (AB 887) takes existing protections based on gender and spells out "gender identity and expression" as their own protected categories in our nondiscrimination laws. By making these protections explicit, people will more clearly understand California's nondiscrimination laws, which should increase the likelihood that employers, schools, housing authorities, and other institutions will work to prevent discrimination and/or respond more quickly at the first indications of discrimination. The Vital Statistics Modernization Act (AB 433) will alleviate the confusion, anxiety and even danger that transgender people face when we have identity documents that do not reflect who we are. The bill will streamline current law and clarify that eligible petitioners living or born in California can submit gender change petitions in the State of California. The Vital Statistics Modernization Act conforms California's standards to the standards set by the United States Department of State for gender changes on passports, and it makes common-sense changes to the law that ensure the process is simple for qualified petitioners to navigate.

It should be noted that California law already prohibited discrimination against transgender individuals but because the words "gender identity" or "gender expression" did not appear in the most common places in the California code lawyers would look these anti-discrimination protections were not well publicized or well-understood.

The new laws make it explicitly clear that California's non-discrimination laws also cover transgender residents.

BREAKING NEWS! Palencia Steeping Down As EQCA Head

Late today it was announced that my friend, Roland Palencia, has decided to step down as executive director of Equality California, effective Friday October 14.

I gave Roland a call and he told me that it is entirely his decision to step down (despite being named head of the organization a mere 5 months ago); he is not being pushed out by the board. He called it a "personal decision" and said that his priority is making sure that the community rallies around EQCA, which he called a "valuable and important organization." I'm sad that my friend will no longer be leading California's largest LGBT political organization but wish him well in his future endeavors and realize he has to do what is best for him.

Here's the official press release:

     

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 10, 2011

CONTACT: Rebekah Orr, Equality CaliforniaPHONE: 415-498-0847 EMAIL: rebekah@eqca.org

EQCA Executive Director Roland Palencia to Step Down From Post Friday, October 14

(San Francisco) Equality California (EQCA) announced today that Executive Director Roland Palencia will step down as of Friday, October 14. Palencia was selected to succeed long-time Executive Director Geoff Kors in May of this year. 
"Equality California serves a critical role in the movement for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality in the state of California," said Palencia. "Over the next year, the movement in California faces a unique set of challenges that demands leadership uniquely positioned to take those challenges head-on, strengthen the organization and bring together the diverse parts of our movement into a powerful force for change. It's been my privilege to serve as the Executive Director of Equality California and I will continue to be an avid and involved supporter of EQCA and its work for equality."
Equality California will release a transition plan by the end of this week.
"During his tenure with Equality California, Roland Palencia did important work to build diverse and inclusive coalitions and engage and reconnect our movement," said Cathy Schwamberger, Equality California Institute Board Chair. "That work has helped to position our movement to fight back against attacks on the LGBT community and protect advances in equality--the effects of which will impact our movement for years to come. We are grateful for his service to Equality California and his contributions to our movement and wish him the best in all of his future endeavors."
For more information on Equality California sponsored legislation, please visit:www.eqca.org/legislation.Equality California (EQCA) is the largest statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights advocacy organization in California. Over the past decade, Equality California has strategically moved California from a state with extremely limited legal protections for LGBT individuals to a state with some of the most comprehensive civil rights protections in the nation. Equality California has passed more than 80 pieces of legislation and continues to advance equality through legislative advocacy, electoral work, public education and community empowerment. www.eqca.org

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EQCA: No Go On Prop 8 Re-Do In '12

Well! Equality California has finally acknowledged a repeal effort of 2008's Proposition 8 is not going to happen in 2012:

Equality California said that while public opinion on marriage for same-sex couples has increased since Proposition 8 passed in 2008, support continues to hover near 50 percent—indicating more work must be done before asking voters to overturn Proposition 8 through what would inevitably be  a very expensive and difficult campaign. In addition, the Perry v. Brown legal challenge to Proposition 8 has provided hope that the freedom to marry can be restored in California and create a legal precedent to protect marriage without the potential risks and expense of a multi-million dollar campaign in these very trying economic times. 

"With a challenge to Prop 8’s discrimination now before the courts, Freedom to Marry supports Equality California’s decision to forego a ballot campaign in 2012,” said Evan Wolfson, founder and President of Freedom to Marry. ”Freedom to Marry will continue to work with Equality California and our many other partners to engage Californians in the crucial conversations necessary to grow the pro-marriage majority and permanently restore the freedom to marry in California as soon as possible."

“We share the pain, frustration and discrimination that California same-sex couples and their families experience every day because they are denied the freedom to marry,” Palencia said. “Today, we are recommitting ourselves to doing the hard work of changing hearts and minds to be ready to change that reality should the courts fail to do their job.” 

Although I only live part-time in California, I am still registered to vote there, and I support the decision not to move forward with a ballot measure, especially since there will almost definitely be marriage equality fights in Maine, Minnesota, North Carolina and Oregon next year.

CA Legislature Passes Gender Equality Bill

Excellent news from California. Although our state already has the strongest LGBT protections available under state law in the country, there are always was to improve. The State Senate put the last touches on AB 887, the Gender Non Discrimination Act, authored by out lesbian Assemblymember Toni Atkins of San Diego, by passing it by a vote of 25-13 this week.

San Diego Gay and Lesbian News reports:

AB 887 protects all Californians. No matter your skin color, your age, where you come from or whether you're gay, straight, or transgender, we are all protected by the same rights," Atkins said. 

"We share equal protection in employment, housing, and education. This bill ensures that no one is left out." AB 887 seeks to strengthen employment, housing, and other civil rights protections for all Californians, particularly those who face discrimination based on gender identity and expression. 

While California anti-discrimination laws already define "gender" to include a person's gender identity and gender expression, AB 887 explicitly enumerates gender identity and expression as protected categories in a number of state codes to provide clarity to those who are victims of unlawful discrimination as well as for business owners, employers and other entities required to comply with the anti-discrimination protections.

I presume Governor Jerry Brown will happily sign the bill into law soon.

WATCH: EQCA Responds To FRC Lies About FAIR Education Act

There is an attempt being made to have California voters vote on a referendum to overturn this year's FAIR Education Act in a June 2012 election. The FAIR Education Act (SB 48) is a law passed by the state legislature and signed into law by Governor Brown which insures that LGBT, people of color and people with disabilities are included in educational social studies curricula. The Family Research Council joined the fight on the side of the heterosexual supremacists who think that any inclusion of homosexuality in schools must be indoctrination. Equality California, the state's largest LGBT political advocacy organization struck back with a video response of their own within days. In the video response, EQCA rolls Tony Perkins video and then stops it when he lies (which is often) or uses scare tactics (also often) to attempt to persuade viewers that the FAIR Education Act is something it is not.
Watch it!
Hat/tip to TowleRoad.

Call 916-445-2841 To Support SB 48 NOW!

Please call 916-445-2841 to urge Governor Jerry Brown to sign SB 48 (The FAIR Education Act) into law. He has until July 20th to sign the bill into law or veto it or let it become law without his signature.

The text of the bill is clear:

SB 48, as amended, Leno. Instruction: prohibition of
discriminatory content.
   Existing law requires instruction in social sciences to include a
study of the role and contributions of both men and women to the
development of California and the United States.
   This bill would require instruction in social sciences to also
include a study of the role and contributions of Native Americans,
African Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, Pacific
Islanders, European Americans, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender Americans,  persons with disabilities,  and
other ethnic and cultural groups, to the development of California
and the United States.
   Existing law prohibits instruction or school sponsored activities
that reflect adversely upon persons because of their race, sex,
color, creed, handicap, national origin, or ancestry. Existing law
prohibits the State Board of Education and the governing board of any
school district from adopting textbooks or other instructional
materials that contain any matter that reflects adversely upon
persons because of their race, sex, color, creed, handicap, national
origin, or ancestry.
   This bill would revise the list of characteristics included in
these provisions  to include   by referring to
 race or ethnicity, gender, religion, disability, nationality,
and sexual orientation, or other characteristic listed as specified.
   Existing law prohibits a governing board from adopting
instructional materials that contain any matter reflecting adversely
upon persons because of their race, color, creed, national origin,
ancestry, sex, handicap, or occupation, or that contain any sectarian
or denominational doctrine or propaganda contrary to law.
   This bill would revise the list of characteristics included in
this provision to include race or ethnicity, gender, religion,
disability, nationality,  and  sexual orientation,
 and occupation,  or other characteristic listed as
specified.
   Existing law requires that when adopting instructional materials
for use in the schools, governing boards shall include materials that
accurately portray the role and contribution of culturally and
racially diverse groups including Native Americans, African
Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, and European Americans
to the total development of California and the United States.
   This bill would revise the list of culturally and racially diverse
groups to also include Pacific Islanders, lesbian, gay, bisexual,
and transgender Americans,  persons with disabilities,  and
other ethnic and cultural groups.[emphasis added]
   Existing law provides that there shall be no discrimination on the
basis of specified characteristics in any operation of alternative
schools or charter schools.
   This bill would state the intent of the Legislature that
alternative and charter schools take notice of the provisions of this
bill in light of provisions of existing law that prohibit
discrimination in any aspect of their operation.
   This bill also would make other technical, nonsubstantive changes.

   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 51204.5 of the Education Code is amended to
read:
   51204.5.  Instruction in social sciences shall include the early
history of California and a study of the role and contributions of
both men and women, Native Americans, African Americans,  Mexican
Americans,  Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, European
Americans, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans, 
persons with disabilities,  and members of other ethnic and
cultural groups, to the economic, political, and social development
of California and the United States of America, with particular
emphasis on portraying the role of these groups in contemporary
society.
  SEC. 2.  Section 51500 of the Education Code is amended to read:
   51500.  A teacher shall not give instruction and a school district
shall not sponsor any activity that  reflects adversely upon
persons  promotes a discriminatory bias  on the
basis of race or ethnicity, gender, religion, disability,
nationality, sexual orientation, or because of a characteristic
listed in Section 220.
  SEC. 3.  Section 51501 of the Education Code is amended to read:
   51501.  The state board  or   and  any
governing board shall not adopt any  textbook  
textbooks  or other instructional materials for use in the
public schools that  contains   contain 
any matter reflecting adversely upon persons on the basis of race or
ethnicity, gender, religion, disability, nationality, sexual
orientation, or because of a characteristic listed in Section 220.
  SEC. 4.  Section 60040 of the Education Code is amended to read:
   60040.  When adopting instructional materials for use in the
schools, governing boards shall include only instructional materials
which, in their determination, accurately portray the cultural and
racial diversity of our society, including:
   (a) The contributions of both men and women in all types of roles,
including professional, vocational, and executive roles.
   (b) The role and contributions of Native Americans, African
Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders,
European Americans, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender
Americans,  persons with   disabilities,  and
members of other ethnic and cultural groups to the total development
of California and the United States.
   (c) The role and contributions of the entrepreneur and labor in
the total development of California and the United States.
  SEC. 5.  Section 60044 of the Education Code is amended to read:
   60044.  A governing board shall not adopt any instructional
materials for use in the schools that, in its determination,
contains   contain  :
   (a) Any matter reflecting adversely upon persons on the basis of
race or ethnicity, gender, religion, disability, nationality, sexual
orientation,  occupation,  or because of a characteristic
listed in Section 220.
   (b) Any sectarian or denominational doctrine or propaganda
contrary to law.
  SEC. 6.  It is the intent of the Legislature that alternative and
charter schools take notice of the provisions of this act in light of
Section 235 of the Education Code, which prohibits discrimination on
the basis of disability, gender, nationality, race or ethnicity,
religion, sexual orientation, or other specified characteristics in
any aspect of the operation of alternative and charter schools.

Of course, the heterosexual supremacists are saying that this bill is about "The Promotion of the Homosexual Lifestyle in School Curriculum" when actually all it does is include the LGBT community to the existing California Education Code which mandated the inclusion of the racial and cultural diversity of California.

CALL NOW. It literally takes 90 seconds. There is a phone tree set up when you dial 916-445-2841 and go through 2 or 3 options then you are asked about SB 48 and you can Press 1 to demonstrate your support for the FAIR Education Bill!

CA Legislature Passes LGBT Education Bill

Equality California
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 5, 2011

CONTACT: Jorge Amaro, Equality California
PHONE: 562-964-3591 EMAIL: jorge@eqca.org

CONTACT: Jill Marcellus, Gay-Straight Alliance Network
PHONE 516-313-9659 EMAIL: jill@gsanetwork.org
 
State Assembly Passes Landmark LGBT Education Bill

Legislation sponsored by Equality California and Gay-Straight Alliance Network aims to end LGBT history exclusion in education and to promote school safety

Sacramento -- Today, the California State Assembly in a 49-25 vote passed a bill that would require schools to fairly and accurately portray the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights movement and the historic contributions of the diverse LGBT community in social science instruction. The Fair, Accurate, Inclusive, and Respectful (FAIR) Education Act (SB 48), authored by Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), would also add sexual orientation and gender identity to the state's existing anti-discrimination protections that prohibit bias in school activities, instruction and instructional materials.

Studies have shown that inclusion of LGBT people in instructional materials is linked to greater student safety and lower rates of bullying. The bill is co-sponsored by Equality California and Gay-Straight Alliance Network. 

"The struggle of the multicultural and multiethnic LGBT community in California is one of the greatest stories yet to be told," said Equality California Executive Director Roland Palencia. "The FAIR Education Act will ensure that public schools acknowledge the heroism of individuals and communities who in spite of countless barriers continuously overcome adversity."

Palencia added, "For decades, LGBT leaders have worked tirelessly to improve the quality of life for all Californians. LGBT leaders were heavily involved in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, the farm workers' movement, the women's movement, and have built health and human services institutions that now serve millions of Californians. It is time for history to accurately depict our community's contributions."

The FAIR Education Act would bring classroom instruction into alignment with existing non-discrimination laws in California and would add the LGBT community to the existing list of underrepresented cultural and ethnic groups, which are covered by current law related to inclusion in textbooks and other instructional materials in schools. By including fair and accurate information about the rich and diverse history of LGBT people in instructional materials, SB 48 will enrich the learning experiences of all students and promote an atmosphere of safety and respect in California schools.

"This is a victory not only for the LGBT youth in California who have been fighting to be heard in Sacramento and represented in their history classes, but also for all California youth who deserve to learn a fair and accurate account of California and US history," said Carolyn Laub, Executive Director of Gay-Straight Alliance Network. "By passing the FAIR Education Act, the Assembly has taken an unprecedented step to reduce bullying, increase safety for all students, and teach students to respect each other's differences."

"We are selectively censoring history when we exclude LGBT Americans, or any other group of people, from our textbooks and instructional materials," said Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco). "We can't tell our youth that it's OK to be yourself and expect them to treat their peers with dignity and respect when we deliberately deny them accurate information about the historical contributions of Americans who happened to be LGBT."

The bill now heads to the Governor's desk.

Equality California (EQCA) is the largest statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights advocacy organization in California. Over the past decade, Equality California has strategically moved California from a state with extremely limited legal protections for LGBT individuals to a state with some of the most comprehensive civil rights protections in the nation. Equality California has passed more than 70 pieces of legislation and continues to advance equality through legislative advocacy, electoral work, public education and community empowerment.www.eqca.org

Gay-Straight Alliance Network (GSA Network) is a national youth leadership organization that empowers youth activists to fight homophobia and transphobia in schools by training student leaders and supporting student-led Gay-Straight Alliance clubs throughout the country. In California alone, GSA Network has brought GSA clubs to 56% of public high schools, impacting more than 1.1 million students at 850 schools. GSA Network's youth advocates have played a key role in changing laws and policies that impact youth at the local and state level. GSA Network operates the National Association of GSA Networks, which unites more than 30 statewide networks of GSA clubs throughout the country. GSA Network is also the founder of the Make It Better Project, which aims to stop bullying and prevent suicide. www.gsanetwork.org   

REPORT: Why 2012 Is Not Year To Repeal Prop 8

There is a debate going on in California (again) about when (or if) the LGBT community should attempt to repeal Proposition 8 by circulating and passing a constitutional amendment to restore marriage equality in 2012.

REPORT ON WEST HOLLYWOOD TOWN HALL
The state's largest LGBT political advocacy group, Equality California, is hosting 12 town halls around the state seeking LGBT community input on the momentous decision to attempt to pass a ballot measure which would enact marriage equality and overrule Proposition 8. To that end, MadProfessah was invited to attend the 2nd of these events at the West Hollywood Auditorium on Sunday May 22 (Harvey Milk Day) as part of the panel. Other members were David Codell, a leading gay attorney who participated in the California marriage case and is one of the smartest legal minds in the state, Jim Carroll, interim Executive Director of Equality California, and Andrea Shorter, Director of Coalitions and Marriage at EQCA.

About 75 people showed up for the event which started a bit late at 5:45pm. Incoming EQCA Executive Director Roland Palencia was introduced to the crowd but did not say anything. During the event David explained that if a new constitutional amendment were to be passed then that would immediately make the Perry v Brown lawsuit moot. He also gave his opinion on the disposition of that case, making it clear that he felt it was very unlikely that the California Supreme Court would rule that the Proposition 8 proponents have standing to pursue the federal lawsuit when the Attorney General and Governor of the state have declined to defend the ballot measure in federal court. According to his timeline, oral arguments should happen in September with a ruling in December and the 9th Circuit ruling soon after that in early 2012. That would lead to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling sometime before June 2013. David also thought that the U.S. District Judge James Ware would quickly dispose of the offensive challenge to the original Perry v Schwarzenegger decision based on the sexual orientation of the judge, saying he was looking forward to reading the decision to see just how sharply the judge smacks down the heterosexual supremacists for making the ridiculous claim that a gay judge's sexuality or relationship status would have any impact on his ruling. David also made the point repeatedly that never in the history of America has any state passed a ballot measure to enact legislation to provide a right to LGBT people. There was a question from the audience about this later and I explained that there have been pro-gay ballot measure results (Maine 2005, Arizona 2006, Washington State 2009). Maine 2005 was the defeat of the repeal of a statewide gay civil right bill on employment. Arizona 2006 was the defeat of a measure to ban domestic partnerships and same-sex marriage (in 2008 Arizona passed  a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage only). Washington 2009 was the statewide approval of a referendum on a comprehensive domestic partnership law recently passed by the state legislature and signed by the Governor. These are all different situations from asking voters to overturn a previously passed initiative statute and constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage while a lawsuit is pending.

Jim Carroll's job was to give the results of a new poll about marriage equality conducted by Binder Research paid for by former Ambassador James Hormel and Love Honor Cherish. You may recall LHC was the group who moved forward with a Repeal Prop 8 campaign in 2010 (and failed to turn in any signatures) despite most of the LGBT community deciding in summer 2009 that this was not the right time to raise and spend tens of millions of dollars to pass a pro-gay ballot measure that year. Carroll presented a powerpoint which demonstrated that there has been very little change in public support for marriage equality since the last time the LGBT community polled in 2009. Carroll tried to educate the audience about the difference between polls of "adults" and polls of likely voters. California has 37 million people, and about 24 million adults, of which 21 million are registered to vote and about 15 million who are likely to vote in the next election. These 15 million are, on average, whiter, older and more conservative than the population as a whole which is "majority minority." The poll results Carroll discussed were for this group of likely voters.

THE LATEST POLLING RESULTS ON MARRIAGE EQUALITY IN CALIFORNIA
The topline result is that on the question of marriage equality, i.e. "Do you support or oppose allowing same-sex couples to be legally married" the 2011 numbers are 45% Yes-45% No 10% Undecided compared to the 2009 numbers of 47% Yes 48% No 5% Undecided. This is a somewhat shocking result in the light of numerous national polls (Gallup, CNN)showing majority support in the adult population for marriage equality in the last 6 months or so.

Unsurprisingly, support for marriage equality varies depending on how you ask the question. For example, if the question is about repealing Proposition 8 there is majority support (51%). Note that the margin of error in the telephone poll of 900 likely voters May 10-14 (with oversampling in African-American and English-speaking Asian Pacific Islander communities) is 3.3 percentage points. Look at the graphic above to see that support in communities of color for marriage equality has slightly increased with opposition slightly decreasing.

Binder also polled on the question of explicitly adding a religious exemption to a ballot measure which legalizes same-sex marriage (and thus also implicitly repeals Proposition 8) and support went down from the repeal Prop 8 numbers.

Would you vote yes or no on a ballot initiative that would legalize civil marriage for same-sex couples, on the condition that clergy or religious institutions are never required to perform a marriage that goes against their religious beliefs?

47% Yes 43% No 10% Undecided

Binder calls this an increase in support because the 47% number is higher than the 45% baseline support for the marriage equality question. However, the question "Would you vote yes or no on a ballot initiative that would legalize civil marriage for same-sex couples" was not included in the poll. The assumption is that the results of this question would track identically with the results on the marriage equality question.

In fact, in a bizarre case of fallacious reasoning Binder lumps all the respondents who said they support marriage equality OR repealing Proposition 8 OR would vote yes on a ballot measure with a religious exemption and comes up with a support of 58% Yes and 34% No. The notion that you can presume that people who will vote for a measure that does ONE of these things will also vote for a measure which does ALL of these things is simply ridiculous. (Mathematical geek aside: There is a huge logical difference between an OR and an AND.)

WHY TRYING TO REPEAL PROP 8 IN 2012 IS A BAD IDEA
All in all, I went into the Town Hall undecided and left pretty convinced that a 2012 ballot measure campaign to restore marriage equality to California is a bad idea. Especially when there is a pending federal court challenge which may not only restore marriage equality in California but support the legal argument to strike down the 30 other constitutional amendments which ban marriage equality around the nation. There are numerous other states which will likely have anti-gay marriage measures on the ballot (Minnesota, North Carolina and Indiana) and there may be states which have affirmative pro-gay measures on the ballot (Oregon and Maine). For the amount of money it takes to expand California from civil unions to full marriage equality one could have a good shot of winning one or both of the affirmative measures and possibly defeating one or some of the anti-gay measures. Nationally, it just doesn't make sense to me to spend 30-plus million dollars to enact marriage equality in California when there are states which do not have basic laws banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation (29) and gender identity (38).

We shall see what happens in the future, since EQCA says they will report back to the community in September 2011. LHC says that we can file ballot language and collect signatures before the California Supreme Court rules on the standing issue. Depending on the decision, the signatures do not have to be submitted. I'm not opposed to this idea, but I think it will be very very difficult to not submit the signatures to the secretary of state in March 2012 if either the Cal Sup. Ct. or  9th Circuit doesn't rule our way. Of course if a measure does get submitted and qualified I would support it, not monetarily but I would vote for it.

I just think that 2012 is not the right year to repeal Proposition 8. In order to make that decision to move forward I have three pre-conditions which need to be met: 1) Show majority support outside of the margin of error for marriage equality in the state in multiple polls 2) Significant (7 digit) quantities of money in the bank and 3) a open, accountable leadership structure and detailed plan for how to run a statewide ballot measure campaign.